While a mid-October Beta flight might look routine on the surface, Build 26220.9739 solves a handful of long-standing annoyances for multi-display power users, accessibility-focused workflows, and handheld or couch-gaming setups. According to Microsoft Learn documentation for the 26220 Beta series, builds in this branch are built on Windows 11, version 25H2 via an enablement package, meaning these refinements are being tested directly on top of the current mainstream servicing architecture.
The Settings Home Device Info Card Goes Global (With Strings Attached)
When Microsoft introduced the Settings Home landing page in Windows 11, the pitch was straightforward: give users a central dashboard of dynamic cards so they wouldn't have to spelunk through submenus just to check basic account or system states. Yet one of the most logical tiles—the Device Info Card—spent over a year locked behind strict regional gating.
As documented on the Windows Insider Blog back in June 2025 (with Dev Channel Build 26200.5622) and again in November 2025 (with Release Preview Builds 26100.7296 and 26200.7296), Microsoft originally restricted the consumer preview of the Device Card to Windows Insiders located in the United States who were signed in with a Microsoft account, alongside a parallel preview on IT-managed PCs signed in with a Microsoft Entra ID. Why a glorified hardware and storage summary needed more than a year of U.S.-only soaking before crossing an ocean is one of those mysteries only Redmond’s telemetry teams can truly answer.
With Build 26220.9739, as reported by Neowin, Microsoft is now expanding the Device Info Card on Settings Home to additional markets globally. Here is what the card actually delivers and what you need to know if you go looking for it after updating:
- What it shows: The card sits on
Settings > Homeand presents a quick snapshot of your PC's key hardware specifications and current storage usage. - Direct navigation: Clicking through from the card takes you straight to
Settings > System > Aboutfor the full breakdown of your machine's specifications. - Account requirements: The global expansion specifically applies to Windows Insiders signed in with a Microsoft account. If you run a strictly local account, don't expect the tile to materialize on your Home dashboard. Furthermore, while Microsoft notes its prior preview for IT-managed PCs using a Microsoft Entra ID, the current global market expansion language specifically highlights Microsoft account sign-ins.
- Gradual rollout caveat: As MicrosoftLearn's Beta Channel documentation notes, pre-release features in the 26220 series are frequently gated behind Controlled Feature Rollout technology and might not appear on every machine immediately after the reboot finishes.
Section Summary: Build 26220.9739 finally pushes the Settings Home Device Info Card beyond the U.S. to additional global markets for Beta Insiders signed in with a Microsoft account, offering an at-a-glance summary of key PC specs and storage usage with a direct jump to Settings > System > About.
Magnifier Finally Understands Multi-Monitor Workspaces
If the Device Info Card gets the marquee billing in the headline, the real engineering triumph in Build 26220.9739 belongs to Windows Magnifier. Anyone who has ever tried to use screen magnification across a dual- or triple-monitor desk setup knows how jarring the legacy behavior was. Historically, Magnifier treated all connected displays as one giant, continuous canvas. Zooming in on one monitor stretched a single magnified view across your entire desktop array, blurring screen boundaries together and dragging your zoom level everywhere your cursor traveled.
In Build 26220.9739, Magnifier becomes display-aware, introducing two major capabilities: independent per-display zoom and viewport locking.
1. Independent Per-Display Zoom
Different monitors often serve wildly different purposes—and frequently run at different native resolutions or physical distances from your eyes. You might be drafting code or an email on a primary 27-inch display where you want 300% magnification, while keeping a reference PDF or Slack window open on a secondary screen that only needs 150% zoom.
With this update, Magnifier respects physical monitor boundaries so one display's magnified view no longer spills over into the adjacent screen. Per-monitor zoom is turned on by default, provided your workspace meets one critical prerequisite:
- Open
Settings > System > Display. - Set your multi-monitor projection mode to Extend (rather than Duplicate), ensuring Windows treats each physical monitor as an independent workspace.
Once extended, you can adjust the zoom percentage on any individual display using whichever workflow suits your muscle memory:
- Keyboard shortcuts: Move your mouse pointer onto the target monitor and press
Windows key + Plus (+)to zoom in orWindows key + Minus (-)to zoom out. - Mouse wheel control: Point at the target screen, hold
Ctrl + Alt, and scroll your mouse wheel. - Settings app: Dial in exact zoom percentages per screen inside
Settings > Accessibility > Magnifier. - On-screen UI: Drag the floating Magnifier toolbar directly onto a specific monitor and use its on-screen buttons to adjust that screen.
If you actually preferred the classic spanned behavior where a single zoom level covers every display simultaneously, you aren't forced into the new workflow—you can toggle per-monitor zoom off (and back on) at any time from the Magnifier toolbar or inside Settings > Accessibility > Magnifier.
2. Viewport Locking: Keeping Reference Screens Still
Even with independent zoom percentages, multi-monitor magnification has another classic friction point: because Magnifier follows your mouse pointer by default, moving your cursor from a reference monitor back to your primary writing screen can cause the reference display's viewport to shift just as you were trying to read a specific paragraph.
Build 26220.9739 solves this with Viewport Locking, which freezes a magnified screen's camera position in place while keeping the underlying applications completely live and interactive. You can still glance over, click links, or highlight and copy text from the locked display without the viewport drifting away.
| Action | Default Shortcut / Location | Behavior & Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Lock a specific display's view | Point at screen + Ctrl + Windows key + K | Holds the magnified viewport steady on that screen; displays an on-screen lock confirmation message. |
| Unlock a specific display | Point at screen + Ctrl + Windows key + K | Releases the viewport lock for that individual monitor so it follows the pointer again. |
| Unlock all displays at once | Windows key + Esc | Immediately dismisses all active viewport locks across all monitors. |
| Change the lock shortcut | Settings > Accessibility > Magnifier | Lets you switch the toggle shortcut from Ctrl + Windows key + K to Ctrl + Alt + P. |
Section Summary: Magnifier in Build 26220.9739 treats extended displays independently by default, allowing separate zoom percentages on each monitor and introducing viewport locking (Ctrl + Windows key + K) so reference screens stay pinned in place while you work elsewhere.
Xbox Mode Gaming Task View, File Explorer, and System Polish
Beyond Settings and Accessibility, Build 26220.9739 rounds out its changelog with targeted updates for controller-friendly PC gaming, File Explorer search legibility, and system stability.
Refreshed Gaming Task View in Xbox Mode
As Windows 11 continues trying to make full-screen gaming shells and handheld PCs feel less like spreadsheet machines with joysticks bolted on, Microsoft is updating the Gaming Task View experience when running in Xbox mode. The refreshed interface introduces a dedicated navigation bar that puts two essential system actions right at the surface:
- Exit to Desktop
- Power Options
Instead of fumbling through layered overlays just to return to the standard Windows desktop or put a gaming device to sleep, users in Xbox mode get direct navigation controls inside Task View.
File Explorer Search Results Layout
If you have ever run a deep file search in Windows 11 File Explorer only to squint at misaligned metadata columns, this build includes a welcome visual cleanup. On the File Explorer search results page, key file attributes—specifically name, location, and date—now render in a consistent layout designed to make large lists of search results faster and easier to scan.
Family Safety and System Reliability Fixes
Finally, the build cleans up a few rough edges in parental controls, power management, and UI consistency:
- Family Safety: When an application is blocked by age-restricted parental controls, Windows 11 now displays clearer, improved messaging explaining the block.
- Shutdown reliability: Microsoft has included under-the-hood fixes to improve shutdown reliability, reducing the likelihood of the OS hanging during shutdown in certain scenarios.
- Modern system dialogs: Certain system message prompts—such as low-battery warnings and permission dialogs—that had reverted to legacy or inconsistent styling should now properly render using the modern Windows 11 design language again.
Section Summary: Rounding out Build 26220.9739 are a new navigation bar for Gaming Task View in Xbox mode with quick access to Exit to Desktop and Power Options, a cleaner metadata layout for File Explorer search results, clearer Family Safety app-blocking prompts, fewer shutdown hangs, and restored modern styling for low-battery and permission dialogs.
What This Build Signals for Windows 11 Users
Taken together, Windows 11 Beta Build 26220.9739 is a study in two very different sides of Microsoft's development culture. On one hand, the year-plus wait just to let non-U.S. Insiders see a basic hardware summary card on Settings Home is a reminder of how bafflingly conservative Microsoft's cloud-tied, account-gated UI rollouts can be. Requiring a Microsoft account sign-in just to view local PC specs and storage usage on the Settings Home dashboard—data that is already sitting locally one click away in Settings > System > About—remains a classic example of Redmond nudging users toward cloud-connected profiles.
On the other hand, the Magnifier upgrade is Windows engineering at its best: thoughtful, deeply practical, and clearly informed by how people actually work across multiple monitors. Giving low-vision users and multi-screen power users independent per-monitor zoom alongside a single-shortcut viewport lock (Ctrl + Windows key + K) removes a massive source of daily friction without complicating the interface. Combined with the Xbox mode Task View navigation bar and File Explorer search alignment, Build 26220.9739 is a solid, utilitarian step forward for the 25H2 Beta branch.